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PhD opening at UCLA

Submitted by Lihua Jin on

There is a PhD opening in the Mechanics of Soft Materials Lab (https://www.msm.seas.ucla.edu/) in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. The opening is to be filled in 2021 fall, 2022 winter or 2022 fall quarter. The successful candidate is expected to work on modeling, simulations, and experiments of soft materials.

Human-eyeball-inspired curvy, shape-adaptive kirigami imagers

Submitted by Zhengwei Li on

Curvy imagers that can adjust their shape are of use in imaging applications that require low optical aberration and tunable focusing power. Existing curvy imagers are either flexible but not compatible with tunable focal surfaces, or stretchable but with low resolution and pixel fill factors. Here, we show that curvy and shape-adaptive imagers with high pixel fill factors can be created by transferring an array of ultrathin silicon optoelectronic pixels with a kirigami design onto curvy surfaces using conformal additive stamp printing.

Mechanics helps design better living robotics

Submitted by Zhengwei Li on

Engineering living systems is a rapidly emerging discipline where the functional biohybrid robotics (or ‘Bio-bots’) are built by integrating of living cells with engineered scaffolds. Inspired by embryonic heart, we presented earlier the first example of a biohybrid valveless pump-bot, an impedance pump, capable of transporting fluids powered by engineered living muscle tissues. The pump consists of a soft tube attached to rigid boundaries at the ends, and a muscle ring that squeezes the tube cyclically at an off-center location. Cyclic contraction results in a net flow through the tube.

2021 Melosh Competition at Duke University: 2nd Call for Abstracts

Submitted by jguilleminot_duke on

Dear All,

The 32th Annual Robert J. Melosh Competition for the Best Student Paper in Computational Mechanics will be held at Duke University on October 21-22, 2021. A hybrid format is envisioned at this point, compatibly with Duke University’s policies on gathering under the COVID-19 pandemic.

Small Specimen Fatigue Testing

Submitted by Deniz Yalcin on

Studying fatigue properties of small specimens can be challenging, yet is needed for research purposes as well as for product and verification testing in industries like the medical device and additive manufacturing.

Fatigue testing allows manufacturers and researchers to get a critical understanding of how a material or component will perform in real-world loading scenarios over the course of time. Common fatigue testing definitions and keywords include:

Course on V&VUQ of Computational Modeling of Materials and Structures

Submitted by Siddiq Qidwai on

Dear Members of the Mechanics and Materials Communities,

You may have known about the efforts of the Mechanics of Materials and Structures (MoMS) program of the National Science Foundation on revitalizing the practice of verification and validation (V&V) of computational models as a rigorous and indispensable step in the scientific investigative process.

Webcast: Simpleware S-2021.06 Release: Highlights of New and Improved Features

Submitted by Philippe on

If you're a user of Simpleware software, or want to know more about it, I recommend the new release webcast this week: Simpleware S-2021.06 Release: Highlights of New and Improved Features:

https://register.gotowebinar.com/rt/1346265540643513614?source=IMechani…

Here's what it'll cover:

Fully funded PhD position on multiphysics modeling for batteries

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

In collaboration with an internationally renowned research center, we are happy to announce a fully funded PhD position on modeling and simulations of Li-ion batteries. The candidate will develop models for battery response during normal operation and high C-rates, including some of the most relevant processes of mechanical degradation. Models will be implemented in HPC using open C++ FEM libraries.

Adhesion enhancement in a dimpled surface with axisymmetric waviness and rate-dependent work of adhesion

Submitted by Antonio Papangelo on

Surfaces showing macroscopic adhesion are rare in industry, but are abundant in Nature. Adhesion enhancement has been discussed mostly with geometrical systems (e.g. patterned surfaces), more rarely with viscoelasticity, and has the goal of increasing hysteresis and the detachment force at separation. Soft materials are common, and these have viscoelastic properties that result in rate-dependent increase of toughness.

A magnetoelastic theory for Kirchhoff rods having uniformly distributed paramagnetic inclusions and its buckling

Submitted by Ajeet Kumar on

We present a theory for finite and spatial elastic deformation of rods under the influence of arbitrary magnetic field and boundary condition. The rod is modeled as a Kirchhoff rod and is assumed to have uniformly distributed array of uniaxial spheroidal paramagnetic inclusions embedded in it all pointing in the same direction in the undeformed state. The governing equations of the magnetoelastic rod are derived which are further non-dimensionalized and linearized to investigate buckling in such rods.